


sending letters to you (the one i love)

by phoenyxies



Series: i fell in love with my friend (and i don't know how to tell them) [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Letters, Light Angst, Long-Distance Relationship, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pen Pals, Sexuality Crisis, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-28 16:16:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21139547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenyxies/pseuds/phoenyxies
Summary: Jester, thinking about her one-tenth draconic friend, Calianna, decides to use a Sending spell to check up on her.It's one of the best decisions Jester has ever made.["penmanship is the best way to someone's heart (plus some sending spells)"from jester's point of view! ]





	sending letters to you (the one i love)

Jester glared down at the blank page in her sketchbook. Teeth gnawing at her pencil, she looked from the small table she sat at to the bed in the corner of the room.

It had been a long day. Part of her wanted to sleep. The inn’s bed looked _way_ fluffier than usual, and she was working by candlelight because Beau was asleep and so was everyone else. She hadn’t heard anyone walking the halls in ages. In fact, she should be sleeping right now. It was super crazy late!

But she couldn’t do that. This was the first time she’s been able to sit and draw for a while. And it wasn’t fair to leave the Traveler in the cold like that. The only problem she really had, other than being a little sleepy, was that she didn’t know what to draw.

Sighing, Jester turned to the very first page in her book, and began to flip through it. She skimmed the pages, pencil still between her teeth, pouting. Sketches and doodles flew past in a blur - some of her friends, some of scenery on their travels, some of little creatures dancing and flying around the edges of the paper.

She stopped at a particular part, about a fourth into the bound book. The two-page spread was littered with doodles from the Labenda Swamp. There were the poison flowers, the skeletons of the fallen hired hands, the murky water and the pretty trees around it. She frowned.

Turning to the next page over, the frown turned to a smile. The pages were full to the brim of busts and doodles and a smiling Calianna that looked up at her. Another page over, there was more sketches and a fully decked out drawing of her scaled hand and her little smile. Green fire, jade ribbons, and an enchanting goldenflower eye that Jester had only caught a glimpse of for a second. It had stuck in her mind for a while.

She hadn’t really been able to… think about Calianna for a while. Not long after, a lot of things happened. And they met Caduceus. And they lost Molly. And they’d been traveling around for so long. She felt a little guilty about it. 

Jester set her pencil down. Hesitating for a second, she looked for a little longer at the pages of Calianna. She missed her, really. The Nein met a lot of people in their travels, it was a part of the whole adventurer thing. But Jester had really liked Cali. And it felt like too long. And they weren’t planning to go back to Zadash for some time, so if Cali really did send something she couldn’t even get to it, which sucks a lot. Jester _did_ have some spells left though. Maybe she could do Sending?

She sat back in her chair, thinking about it. What if she woke Cali up? What if she was super busy? Jester felt oddly conscious about messaging her now, especially so late at night. Oh, she didn’t want her first Sending to Cali to be awkward or weird or anything. She grumbled under her breath.

Taking a breath, Jester closed her eyes for a few seconds, letting the sugary magic coat her tongue once more. Clearing her throat, she sat up in her chair. 

“Calianna!” She said, keeping her voice low but not trying to sound like she was whispering. She didn’t want to creep Cali out.

“Caliannaaa? Oh, I hope you're hearing this, it's my first time casting this for you, it's Jester! I wanted to see how you're doing-” and with that, the magic slipped from her, and she was left with only the faint buzz as she waited for the reply. Jester’s tail whipped the air behind her, and her fingers tense on the hem of her dress.

_Jester?_

Jester almost launched herself out of her chair, a grin on her face.

_I’m doing well, I was writing another letter to you just now. I-I miss you all, Ms. Jester, how.. What spell is this? I-_

Now, with the reply from Calianna in her wonderful soft accent, the magic finally fell away. But Jester’s grin didn’t falter. She didn’t know why, or for sure, but her heart felt like it was going to burst! With a giggle, she flipped back to the blank page in her sketchbook. Cali had sounded so confused, it was cute! She could just imagine her eyebrows knit together and her scales glinting against whatever light was available where she was. It took her only a few seconds to sketch a puzzled-looking Cali before she set her pencil down.

What if she used another Sending? It was late, and everyone was asleep, and she doesn’t have anything else to do besides draw and it wouldn’t hurt! It was reasonable, very very reasonable. With a wave of her hand, the magic came again, and her cheeks were starting to ache from her grin.

“I oooonly have this spell left, but I-I’m glad you’re okay! It’s called Sending, the Traveler taught me! I miss you too, Cali, we-”

The spell faded back to its usual buzz again, and Jester cursed under her breath. Stupid word limit. She never got to say everything she wanted to say. And again, she waited to hear Calianna again, tail swishing with nervous energy.

_Right now I’m in an inn in Hupperdook, I’m getting closer to my goal. Send me a letter, Jester, the Iron Road Inn, I miss-_

This time, Jester did shoot out of her chair, hands against the wood of the desk and jumping a little in place. The chair started teetering back, and in a flash, Jester’s tail wrapped around its back leg before it could knock against the floor. Quickly, she peeked over to Beau. The human sleepily murmured something before turning over and letting out a loud Beau-snore. Jester’s grin softens a little. (Gods, she had missed that.)

Assured that she didn’t wake Beau up by accident, Jester bounced on the balls of her feet. Calianna’s in Hupperdook, just like Kiri! She’s in Hupperdook and she said she missed Jester (or maybe she just meant the Nein in general) and _oh, wait, shit, the inn name was the Iron Road Inn, right?_ Fuck! Jester grabbed for her pencil and hastily scribbled it on the page of her sketchbook. Still grinning, her heart did flips in her chest. She had an address! Oh, she needed to start writing, she needed to tell her what she could! 

The chair was set upright, and Jester started shuffling through her haversack. Loose paper, did she have loose paper somewhere? Oh, Caleb’s probably still up studying, maybe she should pop into his and Nott’s room just to ask or something and if not she could ask in the morning. Jester threw her bag back onto the desk. Taking the candle, she scampered out of the room and down the hall. Her sketchbook abandoned in the dark room, a disembodied chuckle echoed slightly, and a faint spectral green hand pulled up the pencil to draw a small heart next to the Calianna drawing before falling back to the desk.

**Author's Note:**

> here it is! the long-awaited side b to the calijester fic I wrote during the summer. thisll be updated once or twice every week. ty for reading!


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